Brookfield is bereft of cows but Home Farm is full of resident family members.

Radio Times: It is a big day for Brookfield, and Brian has a fatherly sense of dread.

Characters: Bert, Brian, David, Jennifer, Pip, Ruth

• Everyone at Brookfield is up early as the cows are loaded up for market. Bert is in reflective mood, Pip is evasive about her birthday celebrations apart from saying it was a shame Matthew couldn’t be there, of course. She offers to cook breakfast, causing Bert to observe that losing the herd has really got to her.
• Brian is going to the market to support David. Jenny decides to come to Borchester too, and to have lunch with Brian, though she will not be watching the auction. She and Lilian are going shopping, now that Lilian has a dress allowance from Justin. Cue much cynicism from Brian. Jenny declares that Justin and Miranda have always led separate lives, so Brian should be pleased that the new arrangement is lifting Lilian’s spirits. Brian observes morosely that while Justin has a social secretary and all the pleasures of the county social scene, he is forced to live under the same roof as his wife, son, sister-in-law, wayward daughter and grand-daughter. Jenny disagrees; she thinks it is lovely and she feels like the matriarch. At least Kate has got round to contacting a letting agency with a view to cornering the Easter market.
• The cows fetch good prices, of course, and Brian congratulates David. Later, David finds Ruth in the empty parlour, and we are treated not only to Ruth’s quiet, caring voice, but David’s version of it too. Ruth is so looking forward to the future, but needs time to mourn what they have lost. David is just so glad they didn’t lose each other. Of course.